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Capital Punishment, 2010 - Statistical Tables

Tracy L. Snell, Bureau of Justice Statistics

December 20, 2011 NCJ 236510

Presents characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 2010, and persons executed in 2010. Preliminary data on executions by states during 2011 are included. Tables present state-by-state information on the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status during 2010, status of capital statutes, and methods of execution. Tables also summarize data on offender characteristics, such as sex, race, Hispanic origin, and time between death sentence and execution. Data are from the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS-8) series.

Highlights:

At yearend 2010, 36 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons held 3,158 inmates under sentence of death, 15 fewer inmates than at yearend 2009.

Between January 1 and December 19, 2011, 13 states executed 43 inmates, which was 3 fewer than the number executed as of the same date in 2010.

During 2010, 119 inmates were removed from under sentence: 46 were executed, 20 died by means other than execution, and 53 were removed as a result of sentences or convictions overturned or commutations of sentences.